Less than two months later, JP Morgan emerged at the centre of the rescue of US investment bank Bear Stearns, first acting as the conduit for a Federal Government lifeline to the bank and then as a white knight acquirer of the business.

The fact JP Morgan was able to react so nimbly in both instances is testament to how skillfully the bank avoided some of the worst excesses of the credit boom of the past five years and how it has navigated the credit crunch that began last August.

According to investment banking data provider Dealogic, JP Morgan has made more money from European equity underwriting so far this year than any other bank and is also top of the European M&A advisory league table for the same period – one of the worst starts to a year for both markets in a decade.

JP Morgan had cornered more than 11% of the European ECM fee pool by the end of February, continuing a strong run from the final quarter of 2007, and worked on nearly a fifth of all M&A deals announced in the first two months, taking it from second place at the end of the fourth quarter to the top of the pile.

Klaus Diederichs, head of European investment banking at JP Morgan, said: “This is a continuation of the success we had over the past years. Markets are difficult and complex at the moment and clients need a fully-integrated investment bank to advise and help them find a solution to their problems.”

Diederichs said the work the bank did for Société Générale is a good example of this type of service. He said it took JP Morgan just six hours to agree, along with Morgan Stanley, to fully underwrite Société Générale’s €5.5bn ($8.4bn) rights issue, which was considered vital to the bank’s future.

However, Diederichs said JP Morgan’s balance sheet strength relative to many of its rivals is not its main attribute in the eyes of its clients. He said: “There are lenders around who are prepared to offer aggressive terms. We assess every situation on a case-by-case basis and are careful and selective in the way we deploy our balance sheet.”

This month, JP Morgan was among the five banks to provide more than $3bn (€2bn) of debt to UK food manufacturer Cadbury Schweppes to finance the spin-off of its US drinks business, including $2bn of bridge financing.

This was one of the largest bridging loans provided in the European market since the onset of the global credit crunch last August, which led banks to sharply curtail their lending.

But as one business becomes less lucrative, JP Morgan has sought new revenue streams and has built its Russian operation, in February hiring Jeffrey Costello as chief executive in the country.